DEAR JOAN: We have a wonderful variety of birds that we feed in our yard. We have been saving lint and hair to put outside for their nest building this spring.

However, we also have a lot of squirrels. How would you suggest we put it out so only the birds have access to it?

Cara

Walnut Creek

DEAR CARA: It’s very kind of you to think about the birds. Although it’s cold and rainy now, nest-building season is just around the corner.

I would discourage you from saving dryer lint for the birds. It’s fragile and won’t hold up in the long run. If birds use a lot of the material to build a nest, they and their eggs or hatchlings can end up homeless when it dissolves. Bird experts also don’t recommend it because it may contain chemicals from the products we use to soften our clothes and prevent static cling.

Hair is good, as long as it’s not long pieces. Longer strands can wrap around the legs and feet of baby birds, cutting off circulation or becoming embedded as the birds grow. The birds also can get tangled in it and trapped. Cut strands into pieces no longer than 6 inches.

The good news about hair is that squirrels likely will want nothing to do with it. Some folks report that scattering their own or their pets’ hair clippings in plant pots and beds keeps the squirrels away.

Other items you can put out for the birds are twigs, dry grass and straw (as long as it hasn’t been treated with chemicals), moss, pine needles, dried leaves, strips of barks, snake skins and pet fur, as long as you haven’t treated the animal with flea or tick medications. Robins and a few other birds use mud in their nests, so keeping a puddle or two will be appreciated. You also can cut some narrow strips of cloth, about an inch wide and 6 inches long, and tufts of wool.

You can gather up these items and cache them around the yard, tucked into crevices and tree forks. You also can stuff them into empty suet feeders.

All these items, except for the hair and fur, will appeal to the squirrels, too, and the only way you can exclude them would be to put the items where the birds can get to them but the squirrels can’t, and that’s no easy task. But the squirrels will appreciate the nesting material as much as the birds will.

DEAR JOAN: Ants will not cross a barrier line of Johnson’s baby powder. I hope this helps your readers. It works for me.

Carole Chiles

Bay Area

DEAR CAROLE: I also had a letter from a reader saying that regular chalk — not the illegal pesticide chalk — works to keep ants away. I’ve also heard that ants won’t cross a line of cinnamon.

There’s no reason any of these things should work, but there is enough anecdotal evidence to indicate they have worked. It may be because ants leave pheromone trails for other ants to follow, and the powdery substance may disrupt those trails.

I’m curious. What home remedies do other people use to keep ants out of their homes? Let me know and I’ll print a compendium of ant solutions.

Christmas trees

If you haven’t already ditched your tree, consider tucking it away in the corner of your yard to create a bird habitat.